By Hannah Curran, Editor
TRUSSVILLE — The Trussville City Council approved the revisions to the Longmeadow Planned Urban Development (PUD) during the meeting on Thursday, Nov. 17.
Brooks Harris with Harris Doyle Homes said the revisions to the PUD would only impact the last Phase of the development. The changes create larger lots from what was originally approved on Longmeadow Drive (Phase E).
“Along the main road, the first handful of lots will actually be 70 feet wide, as opposed to 60-foot lots,” Harris said.
The creation of the 70-foot wide lots along the main road allows for side-loading garages. So the houses will have what Harris calls courtyard entry garages or silo garages, and the driveway will make an L-shape. Then as you transition down Longmeadow Drive, Harris said there would probably be more of a front entry or drive-by style garage.
There will also be a connection that goes out to Martin Wilson Road, although this will be gated and just be pedestrian access. The gated road would not have a traditional asphalt surface and would only be used by 911 and first responders.
The change will decrease the total lot number from 429 to 425. The original PUD also incorporated a lake, but Harris said they have discovered that it’s highly unlikely to build a lake there, given current environmental law. Even if they could, it would not be useful.
“It would be unsightly and not what you would think of as a quality amenity for the community,” Harris said.
Harris explained they have worked with the residents of the community to come up with an alternate amenity, and they’ve reached an agreement.
“We’ve agreed to build a secondary swimming pool in the cul de sac of Phase C2,” Harris said. “This would be an open-air pavilion and adjacent to a swimming pool with a, what we’re calling a sunning shelf at the backside of it.”
There will be parking around the cul-de-sac and nearby. They will also be a system of walking trails through the woods, walking and biking trails that lead down to another alternate parking lot on the main road. Harris said all of it would be connected and walkable.
Harris said they would immediately build the swimming pool so current Longmeadow residents could utilize it.
“We actually also agree that we wouldn’t take a CO on any completed home in Phase E without that being complete,” Harris said. “We wanted to ensure that the residents would have that, and it wasn’t just a promise being made. They could see it, and everybody could enjoy it earlier.”
One issue that also came up at the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) meeting was that a resident who lives in the adjacent area of Phase E said that the original PUD indicated that no house would be built along lots 55 through 59.
“Councilman Short has reviewed the minutes and has not found that anywhere in the minutes,” Harris said. “However, we want to be good neighbors, and so what we are proposing here, along this property boundaries, is a 10-foot planted buffer be built.”
Harris said the houses planned to go on the lots do not encroach on the resident’s property and that the 10-foot planted buffer would ensure that there is landscaping between the development and that property.
Short explained it came with a favorable recommendation from P&Z based on the following stipulations:
- Lots 1 through 12 along Longmeadow Drive are at least 70 feet wide and have courtyard garages;
- Pedestrian opening and gated E-911 access between Martin Wilson Road and Longmeadow PUD;
- The development of a secondary neighborhood pool with a pavilion and paved parking;
- A walking trail around the valley;
- Paved parking at the south end of the trail; and
- Construction of a continued ADA -compliant sidewalk along at least one side of Longmeadow Drive to the double dead-end street.
P&Z also requested the removal of lots 55 through 59, but Short asked the council, upon adding the 10-foot planted buffer, to remove this stipulation from the list.
“I’ve had numerous meetings with Longmeadow residents that are in favor of adding these five blocks back because it directly impacts the cost associated with building the second amenity,” Short said. “It will help keep the costs lower for the residents of Longmeadow.”
During the vote, Council President abstained from voting, but Short, Councilmember Alan Taylor, and Councilmember Perry Cook voted to approve the revisions in the PUD.